


Longing

by peachparty



Category: Gotham - Fandom, Jerome Valeska - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Gotham, Jerome Valeska/female OC, One Shot, One sided, Pining, Prologue, jerome valeska - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 00:10:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20573237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachparty/pseuds/peachparty
Summary: (Prologue to my fic "Flirting with Darkness, takes place a year before story)After a long time of admiring her from afar, Jerome finally sees Winrey in public for the first time ever. But of course, things don't go the way he wanted.





	Longing

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you guys enjoy this! i've had this idea for a while but wasn't sure how i wanted to go about it. this is a prologue to my current fic, so here's the link to that if you haven't read it yet! 
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/18025151/chapters/42590201l
> 
> lemme know what you guys think! (:

Third-person POV

Jerome had seen her. Actually seen her in person, for the first time in his life. And it was unlike anything he had ever felt before. It was a sense of yearning, and it burned deep in the pit of his stomach, stopping him dead in his tracks. His eyes widened momentarily upon seeing her, taking a sharp intake of breath.

Jerome couldn’t pin the exact moment he had developed these feelings for her, because it was a growing thing. Her parents were wealthy socialites, pillars of the community, head of Wayne Enterprises. He had seen her pictured with her family in the newspapers, and while Jerome didn’t usually focus on looks, he’d be damned if she wasn’t the prettiest thing he ever did see. She would get brought along to press conferences for the company, and he could always tell she didn’t want to be there. He could tell from her side eyes and facial expressions as a reaction to some of the things said in that room, her subtle but sardonic comments whenever directly asked a question, to which her mom or dad would slightly nudge her as a way to hell her to knock it off, and her brother, who vexed Jerome every time he opened his mouth, would say something to distract from her comment, it was almost always something that would earn approving looks from their parents, and he could just tell Bruce thought he was better than his sister. In Jerome’s eyes, that wasn’t at all the case. She was different from everyone in that room. It was all too obvious to Jerome.

She was an artist, a damn good one at that, and she didn’t shy away from the dark stuff. Her art was entirely her own, she wasn’t trying to be anyone or anything. She made art to please nobody but herself. Jerome could only imagine how much her parents disapproved. He could tell they tried to control every aspect of her image, because with each news story that came out, every picture released, it seemed she was a watered-down version of who she really was. Her clothes were more prim, proper as time passed, and her smile seemed much more forced. Now when she was asked a question, instead of responding with her usual wry humor, her comments, although positive, were clearly not genuine, her voice honeyed, pitched up from her normal lower tone. It made Jerome curl his lip up in disgust, because this wasn’t her. He knew it wasn’t. He knew she was probably screaming on the inside, desperate to break free from an expectation that was forced upon her, without her wanting or asking for it.

He understood her so clearly, and he so badly wanted to be understood by her. Jerome had gone the majority of his life without having a romantic interest in any person. No one had ever been able to capture his attention, not that anyone ever tried. Still, he had been around the circus girls all his life and he never felt much (if not any) attraction to any of them. This crush, though at this point it was an understatement to simply call it a crush, had snuck up on him. He was enamored by her, and it was a feeling that at times made him feel warm, but also made him sick, not knowing how to deal with or process these feelings. He felt downright silly at times, feeling this connection to her and he hadn’t even met the damn girl. But now he was looking at her, just across the street from him. He wanted to approach her, introduce himself, anything but just standing there and staring at her. But what would he even say to her? She felt so unattainable that it made Jerome’s chest hurt, stuffing his hand in his coat pockets.

His thoughts flashed back to a week ago. His mother was nowhere to be seen, something that Jerome relished in, flipping through the TV absentmindedly on the small couch in his trailer. He came to channel 9 news, eyebrows raising when he saw none other than Winrey Wayne herself, causing him to lean forward into the TV screen, a small smile tugging at his lips. She was at some event that he couldn’t quite tell what it was, her family at her side. She looked worn out, tired, a lazy smile on her face as she listened to what the news reporter was saying, seeming removed from the situation. Jerome wanted to make her smile a real, genuine smile, he wanted to make her laugh, wanted to know everything about her. Jerome was _longing_. As much as he hated to admit it, he had a crushing need to know her. To be around her.

In his train of thought, his mother came staggering through the door, probably after a long night of getting absolutely wrecked, looking disheveled, throwing her bag and coat all over the floor as she squinted at Jerome, looking around the trailer. “You didn’t do the dishes like I asked, boy,” she murmured. “Get off the fucking couch,” she hissed, grabbing his arm and yanking him off, causing Jerome to glare at her, rubbing where she grabbed his arm. She saw Winrey on the TV, scoffing, shaking her head.

“Are you seriously watching her again? You’re such a little creep,” she said, lighting a cigarette. “Word of advice, my son, give it up and move on. Girl of her status wouldn’t ever be interested in you. Maybe in your little world, but not on this Earth,” she said mockingly, smirking before she made her next comment. “Maybe go to that homeless camp near the bridge here. I’m sure those girls are lonely.”

Jerome’s lips pursed at the memory, his never lingering gaze hardening as his fists clenched then unclenched. _Fuck it_, he thought. _I’m gonna prove that bitch wrong_. He gathered up all his confidence, smoothing his hair, striding towards Winrey, going over what he was going to say in his head, his palms starting to sweat.

He was about there, he was so close. Just as he was almost in front of her, two guys came out of the shop she was standing outside of. She looked up at them before she spoke.

“Hey, what took so long?” She asked, as I just stood there, taking a few steps back so I wouldn’t be so obvious.

“The line for the bathroom was fucking long, dude, Evan and I almost peed our pants,” one of the boys said, the other one shaking his head at his comment.

“Well let’s freakin’ move along then, we’re gonna be late for this movie and I ain’t missing the beginning because you two don’t respect the pee before we leave rule!” she said, people giving her weird looks as they passed, Jerome grinning in amusement as she gave them weird looks back.

“You invented that rule, never said we’d follow it!” one of the boys said, as they ran off into a different direction, bumping into people as they passed.

Jerome watched her leave, the realization dawning on him that that might had been his only chance. He thought back to the two boys that were with her, jealousy gnawing at him as he wondered if one of them was her boyfriend or not. “_Not that it_ _fucking matters. This was never going to go your way_,” Jerome thought. He cursed under his breath, walking briskly towards the bus stop, heading back to his mundane life.

\----------------------------------------  
Seven months later, Haly’s circus

Jerome had changed drastically since his almost encounter with Winrey. He was more brash and brazen, much less afraid of saying what he felt. He was growing restless, feeling more chipped away at as the days came and went. Something was stirring deep within Jerome Valeska, and it was malicious. Vengeful. Wanting to tear open anyone who _dared_ even look at him the wrong way. The thoughts fueled him.

Jerome was roaming through the circus grounds. It was one of the most busy nights of the year at the circus, Friday nights. Jerome despised them. He loathed seeing this much of Gotham’s population into one space. But it was better than being in his trailer right now, hearing the sound of his mother’s skin slapping against her random partner of the night. He started walking to a hill away from the circus, one that no one ever went to, a place to clear his head. Not paying attention to his surroundings, he felt a sudden collide with someone, knocking shoulder to shoulder, hearing a gasp from a woman beside the person he knocked into, Jerome shooting daggers at the man. “Watch it, will ya?” Jerome snarled before realizing who it was he was looking at. Thomas Wayne. Jerome looked to either side, feeling a surge of excitement run through him, hoping he’d see Winrey standing there, but Jerome, of course, wasn’t so fortunate. It was only his wife, and, oh. _Bruce_.

“Excuse me son, where exactly are your manners?” Martha Wayne asked disapprovingly, folding her arms at Jerome.

“Must have forgotten ‘em at home,” Jerome mocked. _Winrey, Winrey, Winrey. How are you the product of **these** people_?

“I hope you know being disrespectful isn’t humorous,” Bruce chimed in, Martha putting a hand on his shoulder. Jerome smirked, leaning over to meet Bruce at face level, hands clasped behind his back.

“Awww, _Brucie_. Are you cranky because you didn’t win the stuffed animal you wanted..? Didn't get to cut the line for the Ferris wheel? Don’t worry lil' guy, I’m sure with your families fortune, you could buy the entire circus!” Jerome said, although his voice was playful, his smile outstretched his entire face, looking at him through hooded eyes, standing there looking at him like that for a moment before he stood upright. "_Such _a pleasure meeting the all of you, really, I'm starstruck," Jerome said before striding away, the family standing there for a moment looking at each other before slowly walking away.

“Oh, and, one more thing before you guys go...” Jerome called out, making them turn only their heads around, Thomas putting Bruce in front of him and out of Jerome’s sight, although Bruce peeked out to look.

“Tell Winnie to come by sometime,” he winked, striding off again before turning to say one last thing. “-And tell her Jerome says _hello_.”


End file.
